Method of preparing and embossing wood



STATES 4PATENT OFFICE..

i WILLIAM KOPP, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

METHOD OF PREPARING AND EMBOSSING WOOD.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 90,006, dated May l1,1869.

.To all lwhom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM KOPP, of Louisville, county of Jefferson,and State of Kentucky, have invented a new and useful Method ofPreparing and Pressing Wood, designed in many cases to form a substitutefor carved work on furniture and the like; and-I do hereby declare thatthe following is a full and eX- act description thereof.

The nature of this invention consists in preparing and pressing thisarticle, but not in the form of the press, as the pressure can beaccomplished by either lever, screw, or hydraulic, if only powerfulenough.

These articles can. be made of most sorts of Wood, but the preparationand art of pressing presents the novelty of my invention; and in orderto enable others to make and use my invention, I will proceed todescribe the method of its preparation and 'system of pressing.

I prepare the wood to receive the pressure of flowers or ornaments onone side by making it wet and hot; then I rub it with wax, to

Amake it tough and supple, that it does not breakvor stick to the stampsthen I paste or glue tothe back side of the woodthat is, the plain side,where no impression comes-a pasteboardor thicknesses of paper, to makeone-quarter ofthe whole thickness, so that the wood is in the proportionof three of wood to one of paper in thickness.

The paste or glue to glue this paper on is made ot' flour, alum, andwater; and when I commence pressing, the bed, or pressin g-plate, wherethis article is pressed on, as well as the stamp itself, is made veryhot, which heat, with the chemical quality of the glue and pasteboard,causes the pasteboard and glue t0 dissolve, or form a sort of a hard,tough pap, and thereby lill out the elevated vacancies in the `nishedarticle, caused by the wood Aretaining its original thickness, so that,when finished pressing, this pap will be considerably thicker where thedesigns are more elevated than where they are depressed. Those dies havesharp edges outside, and I press these articles on a sheet of plasticpasteboard laid on the pressing-block, and exert such a pressure thatthe sharp outside edge of the die presses the article and cuts off itsoutside edges at the same time; and when pressed it can be immediatelyremoved from the press,

as, through the chemical quality of glue and pasteboard, with the greatpressure and great heat, it becomes hard and dry, and ready for useI assoon as pressed.

The preparation of the wood with wax serves a double purpose andproduces two distinct effects: First, it renders the wood pliable, soft,and plastic, preventing the fibers v from breaking when the wood ispressed 5 and, t

lcuts the wood and pasteboard as the latter is pressed into it, whilethe flat die enables me to form the back of the pressed wood Hat, so

.as to be ready t0 be glued onto any desired outside of wood-work in thesame operation.

As the sharpedged dies cut the pasteboard, those parts of the latterwhich cover the places in the wood which, by pressing, become raised,this pasteboard, mixing, under a high pressure ofthe other, or flat die,with the glue, forms a sort of pulp with the latter, which pulp at oncehardens and dries, and so ills the cavities on the reverse side of thepressed wood that the same retains its shape at once, without thenecessity of drying it gradually, as is now generally the case.

I do not claim, broadly, pressing wood into certain shapes or forms, northe treament of the same with any article whatever, as I am well awarethat such has been done and used before; but

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The method of pressing wood into certain shapes and forms by pressingitwith one sharpedged sunkl and one at die, the former of which cuts thepasteboard, while the latter forces it into the cavities on the reverseside of the pressed Wood, substantially as and for the purposes setforth.

2. The method of gluing pasteboard on the reverse side of wood to bepressed with such glue composition that the pasteboztrd and glue, whenhea-ted, out, and pressed, will combine to form :t pulp, which lls thecavities on the reverse side of the pressed Wood, and dries during theoperation, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

WILL. KOPP. Witnesses:

MATTHEW FLETCHER, A. W. WALLER.

